The Human Behind the Headlines – At the Cinema watching “Amy”
Amy – the human behind the headlines
After the furore of her death, and the frenzy of her life, I wrote one of the few poems I now regret writing, a haiku called “Fukushima – Amy Winehouse”: Japan mourns its dead / The world mourns a tragedy / Amy Winehouse.
Its not often I blog on a film, A Nightinggale Falling being the last of note I have blogged on, but this for me, as a fan of hers, was a must see. “The Iron Man” I have yet to see, but will blog on when I do, being the Michael Thatcher story, of local interest to Offaly natives, and folk who believe in the legalization of cannabis.
On watching the biopic, it was a tragedy, and she was a victim of mammon. I remember reading of the Belgrade gig, and thinking her a waster at the time, of such a talent. I did not know of the human behind the headlines, and how people are broken so that other people can make money. So whether its Pete Doherty or Sinead O Connor, the lesson I have learned is, its not the person, its the people behind them, and the most evil is the media who profit from reporting the car crash of their lives as they fall apart
The first of that style of music I took note of was the British singer Duffy, then Amy Winehouse came along, and blew me right out of the water. The saddest gig apart from the shambles of the Kalemegdon gig in Belgrade was a DVD of a show of hers I bought where she was barely able to stand on the stage. Having seen her life, I understand why.
Ireland has a singer of her style, who never reached her heights of fame, and maybe a good thing too, is Imelda May, and in Tullamore we have Niamh Dooley who can carry off that style of song to great effect.
It often baffles men why women go for lads who treat them bad, myself included, in her case her parents break up was her trigger. Her bad not being there to tell her no when her mother was too weak to control her was what led her astray… so strong parenting is the way to go it seems, and men should think twice before walking out on their families, as the children do suffer, though her dad said he thought she got over it pretty quick.
Yes, the one who said she didn’t need Rehab when there was a chance of saving her.
“they fuck you up / your mum and dad”
Phillip Larkin wrote those words, and in interview Blake Feilder recounts asking why she was so keen on practicing of promiscuity, so much “like a man” in her sex life, and she said her dad walking out made her think she would never end up like her mother but just go for life herself, wording to that effect. Which shows the chauvinism of men, his own friends stating he was a “shagger” forever sleeping around, and he and society hailing him a hero, and her a harlot is sexist and unfair, and is typical of the thinking that we as a society need to change, and eliminate the chauvinism.
The clips, which no one knew on recording would be so poignant, of footage through her career, make the film, give it its authenticity. Her dad does not like it: tough, it shows him for the sap he is. Her tour management too come out looking the greedy cads they were, and it shows a clear light on the torture that Michael Jackson must have been going through when he died: the money is just not worth it.
My favourite bit, apart from her interview with Jonathan Ross, and the clip showing her reaction to an interview about her thoughts on Dido’s album, is her recording with Tony Bennet. He was always a hero off mine, and his calmness when she freaks during the recording shows that being a gentlemen is never out of fashion, and classyness is always cool for a man no matter what society and the media tells us.
I will go out now and get a couple of her recordings, having lost the ones I had in the Ballinamuck fire.
Do get down to see the film: it will be good to see on the TV, but ts better on the big screen. All her lyrics are like a diary of her life, in particular her love life, and I will listen to her music with a new ear when listening again…
I for one am playing this track right now as I type…
Amy Winehouse… R.I.P.